With their seasons now complete, non-playoff teams can start looking forward to one of the biggest dates on their offseason calendars — the annual draft lottery.

This year’s lottery will take place tomorrow (Tuesday, Apr. 15), determining the order of the first 13 picks of the ’14 Draft, which will be held in Philadelphia on June 27-28 at the Wells Fargo Center. The lottery will air on NBCSN, beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

As for rules and specifics:

— All teams in the lottery are eligible to win the No. 1 overall pick, a practice the NHL implemented for the first time last season. Colorado “won” the ’13 draft lottery, capturing the first overall pick despite having the second-best odds (edging out Florida in the process). The Avs went on to select Calder Trophy candidate Nathan MacKinnon with the No. 1 pick.

— Thirteen of the 14 clubs that failed to make the playoffs are in this year’s lottery. New Jersey is out, due to the league’s reduced penalty for the Ilya Kovalchuk contract, and will select 30th overall. Here’s the fine print on the Devils situation…

To ensure that the odds of all 13 Clubs eligible to win the Draft Lottery are enhanced equally to reflect the Devils’ situation, the Draft Lottery this year is being modified as follows: the Devils will still be included in the Draft Lottery drawing on the same basis and with the same odds that would have normally been assigned to the Club based on and consistent with its regular-season finish. However, in the event the Devils win the Draft Lottery, an immediate re draw will be conducted to select a different recipient of the first overall selection in the First Round. The same process will be conducted as many times as necessary to ensure that the first overall selection is awarded to a team other than New Jersey. The Devils will be entitled to the 30th selection overall in the 2014 NHL Draft (the last pick in the First Round). The Devils are not permitted to trade or transfer their right to the 30th overall selection.

— The remaining first round spots will be decided by the results of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

And they’ll immediately draft Sam Reinhart and give him wink/nudge assurances that he’s already in line for the long term $6 million a year extension as soon as he’s eligible to sign it, regardless of how he plays on the ice.

If they draft Bennett they could trade gagner and Eberle/Yakupov in a package for a good d-man if anyone is interested, or just trade for two vets on the back end. I heard Bennett is a good two way player. He and RNH could be a great one two punch.

While it would be nice to get a guy like Ekblad, 2015 is the year to have the first pick in the draft (Connor McDavid).

atwatercrushesokoye - Apr 14, 2014 at 5:15 PM

The Flames have never drafted in the top 5 (while they’ve been in Calgary) hopefully they win this lottery and draft Ekblad. I think McDavid ends up in a market that needs a boost where they somehow miraculously win the draft lottery.

atwatercrushesokoye - Apr 14, 2014 at 5:18 PM

If the same teams were to miss the playoffs next year I would be willing to bet that somehow Toronto, Brooklyn, or the Devils win the lottery and get McDavid.

elvispocomo - Apr 14, 2014 at 5:30 PM

Time for some luck to go their way after the wheel didn’t spin their way previously and they missed out on Perreault? I’m in.

And as for McDavid, he is not as far ahead of Jack Eichel as some people think. I would be happy with either one of them.

I really like Alex Tuch…he’ll be a beast.

I also would like to get Thatcher Demko…since we have so many picks.

Either way the future is bright in Buffalo, already possessing the #1 prospect pool in the NHL…and 19 picks in the first two rounds through the next three drafts. (Plus a ton of salary cap room and our buyouts.)

Don’t forget that Orlando somehow got back-to-back #1 picks in the early 90s (Shaq and Chris Webber who was eventually traded for Penny Hardaway). That made the team (and built them a fanbase) for several years.

Kinda tells you what kind of season it has been for Buffalo ‘when the lottery draw will be the most exciting thing to see all season .I tried so hard to sit thru these games this year but my remote would automaticly change over another station after 1 period . Plus the way this year has went if Buffalo wins the lottery thier pick will trip going up the stairs to don the jersey and blow his knee out to end his career . 9 Goalies playing in 1 year ‘ what does that tell you .